The Labor enquirer., 1887-02-26

~. sesl1 p>llbly bevs !osa p them." ("
',Aad = " ayr-I a. IKE yoa
ersoad' ~ Gl'ev yoh III theso b not
~ pslvats h3uee (theso fhas Dc not 81
|loae y tbs tonphhy) but What has
thrss. four ed moro fhmiiiss living In
lhsn, and that's . ihct." va the old
fellows reply.
He had soon gathered . number Of
men around him vhom be apprissd Of
my arrival. instSuctibG them at the same
time TO make The fact known and have
every miner come TO > certain place at
Z o'clock In the evening. whore meet
Ing would b. held. Y
At the appointed hour 10 tie evening
about 500 miners assembled in small
groups and about eighty Pinkertons with
their rifles No one dared call the strik-
err together but q soon - l jumped
upon an old cart and told them TO fol-
low me in tbs public street, whore We
would hold orr meeting in spite Of the
blockade tie Pinkertons had erected,
they became quite enthusiastic and fol-
lowed me TO the last man. the Pinker-
tons included. Nv speech consisted In
the reading Of the notes Of nv conver-
sstion with the general manager OF the
syndicate in the morning. Ibid not add
anything; I simply read what the gen.
tleman had told me.
And have never in my life made q
more "iuHsm tory speech" than thus
onel
The meeting had increased In the
meantime. the entire town being pres
ent. All these could not possibly be
"agitators !"
But why should the "contented work
ingmsn" feel 90 indignant over what the
gentleman had said, and why should
they grow so excited7 Singular!
As / gave them the different points
their master had made, ad seriatim
they retorted: 4
"Thirty.fve 10 fifty dollars month
Oh, the rascal We haven't averaged
Sl5-take of from this 81 for powder and
oil and IS for rent that leaves S. for
family to live upon and buv clothes
with .........Let him come here and tel
us that 10 our faces.....".and let him
explain why he broke the agreement be
made with us last springfield he think
that So month was too much for fam
ily TO live on 2........If we had accepted
the last reduction we would not be able
to make Sl2. !. Q. expenses taken of, 81
q month......."
These EXPLANATIONS were unanimous
A roar Of spontaneous laughter, tha
shook the very earth, went up from the
gathering when repeated their mas
ter's story Of how comfortably they were
situated and how kindly they we're caret
for; how happy they were and how viii
ling to return to work. II only the "dis
cord breeding sgitators" were put out Of
the wav.
"Yes." remarked an cid and energetic
boxing American, ''they want to crust
out Of us the last bit Of manhood. They
expect to do that by sending such a
have little courage and notion OF indie
pendence left in them TO the Jail aud
penitentIary-to frighten the other fell
lows. When man is not a.eoing to bt
kicked AROUND like dog. they put him
down for an sg,tator!"
This remark, calmly made, called forth
tremendous applause. Somebody
ci led out: "L,t's chase the Plnkertol 4
pimps out OF town l''-"Yes, they
knocked woman down upon the hill
this afternoon and kicked her, the = =
cried another. "Thev're here agin the
law, an that's fact" philosophical,
joined In my old friend. There was gen
eral commotion. the Pinkertcn's drew
back out Of the crowd........." ."Are yor
mad ?" | inquired. Cant you see tina,
these men are are armed with the best
Winchester repeating riaes2 ? That they
can annihilate you in a few minutes
Your constitutional rights aud laws are
ndiculously inadequate weapons when
confronted with the sixteen shooter O
q law breaker
At this juucture a Pinkerton ruffiar
hurled large stone at me which barely
missed my head. The situation wa
most critical. Another moment and the
crowd would have rushed upon the as
sailants, who VI pre- eagerly waiting for
any kind Of apFetense to FIRE. But my
self-possession And my c,utious words
were not without effect. 1 continued to
speak, and, cha pgins my subject, showed
the causes that brought about such con.
dltions Of things. They became quiet
and listened attentively until adjourn.
ment, notwiths standing the boisterous
bowling and prpvocations Of the drunken
Pinkertons.
l note this incident, re der, to
show Won that i was not Socialism that
infamed these men, for when spoke
OF Socialism to them they became quiet
and calm and interested; /; 1t was the
words Of the Cd oitalist, their master-i,
was the teaching Of capitalism that in
cited them alan pst p madness i!
/ Socialism has nothing In n that in.